Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / 100% of mortgage business from social media! Dan Knott

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100% of mortgage business from social media! Dan Knott · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, and welcome to the Financial Planner Life Podcast, where we talk to professionals at varying stages in their career about what it's like working in the wonderful world of financial planning and financial advice.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: This podcast is proudly sponsored by Recruit UK, a recruitment consultancy specifically focused on the financial services.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: They have a niche specialism, recruiting, within the financial planning industry.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: So check out their website for the latest job opportunities, hints and tips, and blog articles.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_03: Good afternoon.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_03: I'm uh lucky enough to have Dan from Dan Does Mortgages on the podcast today.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: We'll be asking Dan about his industry experience and um how he came to be where he is now.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: So uh thanks for coming on, Dan.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much for having me.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_03: Looking forward to it.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_03: Brilliant.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, just to I don't know, crack straight in, I guess.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh tell us a bit about yourself.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so my name is Dan Knott.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a mortgage broker based in the Northeast, Sunderland specifically.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, I help home buyers across the country um with purchasing their properties, and yeah, that's a bit a little bit about me.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_03: And um, how did you find your way into the mortgage industry?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: Let's talk about a bit about what you were doing previously to that.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so from around 2014, I was working as a contractor in PPI.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um so due to the nature of PPI, um, well, due to the nature of contracting first, um, it was a job that was a little bit had a bit a little bit of flexibility.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um it was it was quite, you know, it was quite it generated quite a good income.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but due to the nature of PPI, it was always a job that was going to come to an end um once PPI was done with.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I worked in PPI until 2020.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, I had seven years experience in the financial services industry, and prior to that I did work for San Andre um as a student, but yeah, 2014 to 21, sort of in a more serious role.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and yeah, due to the nature of knowing that that was going to come to an end, um, it was sort of time to put a plan together and see what the next step was going to be, and that ended up being as a mortgage broker.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: And um, so I think guess the first stage was taking your CMAP.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so 2020, um as I said, I knew PPI was coming to an end pretty sharpish.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: The plan was to do CMAP, and then lockdown happened, and I didn't really have a lot else to do.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I got CMAP done straight away.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, quite fortunately.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I spent a couple of months just teaching myself in the house just because, as I say, it was lockdown one.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then when things reopened slightly um in about July time, I managed to get CMAP one, two, and three all done in about a month.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um I sat the fast track courses where you you know you go into a class room for a week, um, so once for CMAP one and once again for CMAP two and three, um yeah, and managed to get CMAP done and then the ball was rolling.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: Brilliant.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: And how did you from from passing your CMAP, how long was the time in between until you found your first role?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: What I did, I wanted to go down self-employed route straight away.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'd say due to working as a contractor, I'd always had a little bit of flexibility um and I wanted to sort of take a bit of responsibility for my own career.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I wanted to go self-employed.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: So what I did was um, you know, I I applied for lots of jobs that were advertised, and you know, due to a lack of experience, you know, I wasn't getting offered much really.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um but what I did was I pretty much emailed and got in touch with a lot of brokerages um in the Northeast directly, um just telling them a little bit about me, um, you know, what I've got to offer and why I'm maybe a good fit and for being given an opportunity.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I was given one, it didn't take too long, really.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um there was quite a lot of persistence there as well.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't just a couple of emails.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: Uh is that right?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so yeah, of course.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: So with you know an industry like this, you know, it's there's not always going to be a lot of seats at the table, so it's sort of a case of you know forcing your way in if you can.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, just giving yourself the best opportunity to get that foot in the door, and then once you have got that foot in the door, um, you know, things will open up, and then as I say, the ball the ball's rolling.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_03: And then once your foot was in the door, how did you go about generating clients or um yeah, how did you come to do your first cases, achieve caste status?
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, tell us a bit about that.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so initially for the first 12 months um generating leads, the firm I was working for, you know, there were some leads provided, um and then I provided some of my own, but neither were consistent or necessarily high quality.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so there wasn't there wasn't a steady stream of leads for the for the first 12 months, I wouldn't say.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um in terms of getting casts, you know, there was enough for that.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um I managed to get the cast done within within you know quite a good timing.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: But yes, it wasn't it wasn't consistent enough for me to feel fully comfortable.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um after 12 months, that's when I decided to start, you know, to sort of take matters into my own hands.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um and that's when my social media pages started, and which we you alluded to earlier.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: So my main page is an Instagram page called Dando's Mortgages.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I started that's seven months ago now, and that's the page that now generates 100% of my leads and of my clients.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I've I've had a look on the Instagram and you've managed to yeah build build quite a platform there, like 3,000 plus followers.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um, how was it kind of starting out?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_03: Well, starting on zero and and gaining that kind of uh following.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so uh started, so I did have I'm not really a social media person, and I don't have any personal accounts on any platform, but I did have one on Instagram with 600 followers.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um so what I did was um I said I wasn't using the account, uh converted that into a business account, and that gave me a bit of a re bit of a foundation to start on.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I had 600 followers and so all sort of local, and yeah, that's that's where it started.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: In terms of getting going though, you know, it's it's quite daunting for a lot of people um getting going on social media, but I just have the attitude of you know, go for it, what's the worst thing that's gonna happen?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um and yeah, thankfully, um I had a little bit of early success, and that's enabled me to you know keep the momentum going up till now.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: Brilliant.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um and what would your advice be for anyone that finds themselves at the moment in a similar position to where you were in terms of kind of having spent a bit of time in the industry or just coming forward into the industry and just trying to find their feet like you were at first, in terms of would you advise social media or yeah, what would your advice be?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: So everybody who's coming into the industry is different.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so as you're aware, that you know, there's two sort of ways to get in the industry: there's coming in employed, and if you do start as an employed worker, and you know, there's obviously a guaranteed salary, and as well as that, you know, because you know you get a paid each month, the training's likely to be quite good.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um so you're going to build experience and if you are employed.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: As I said, I wanted to go down the self-employed route straight away.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_03: Did you look at any employed roles or you were just heart set on self-employed?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I did look at quite a few employed roles.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I did apply to a few you know estate agents um who had mortgage consultant roles, um, as they're called.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, just as I've been a contractor for numerous years, it just didn't seem like a good fit for me at the time.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: As well as that, myself and my partner were planning on starting a family, which we now have.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I wanted to so yeah, so I wanted to have, you know, by flexibility, you know, it's it's not a case of going to the Bahamas every week, but it is, you know, a case of if you do have a doctor's appointment or if you do need to be home at three o'clock, it's going to give you you know that flexibility.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: Or if you're gonna convert to the Bahamas, yeah.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: In a few years, maybe.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, that's that's the reason I want to go self-employed.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: If somebody is planning on starting as a self-employed mortgage broker or within the financial services industry, firstly, um, if you are working with a firm, um are there going to be any leads given to you?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: If there are, how consistent are they?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: And then also how high quality are they?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: So that's something that you need to clarify.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if there's no leads, then you need to generate those yourself.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: What I did was um managed, I was quite fortunate, I managed to save up some money before starting, and I gave myself about 12 months worth of savings in the bank account that would give me um sort of a bit of a parachute period where there wasn't a pressure on earning you know a sufficient income, and that allowed me to you know really learn the trade without putting the pressure on seal, seal, seal.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, that's the route that I went down.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: In terms of social media, whether you should start it, it really does come down to the individual.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, not everybody needs to be on it.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: If you've got a steady stream of leads coming from elsewhere, you know, you don't really need to do it if you don't want to.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um for me though, and if there are for anybody else who is struggling, you know, it has it has given me um an opportunity to keep going and keep the momentum going in the career.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um and yeah, to start to build to see a bit quite you know a solid career and which you know can keep on moving forward.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely great.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I think wonderful advice because I think a lot of people come into the industry knowing that they want to be a mortgage advisor, but not really knowing how to kind of kick it off.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: And um, like you said, a lot of it is getting your foot in the door and taking that initiative to kind of be able to know, you use the initiative to self-generate and think of other avenues of of that being the case.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I know that you said that you don't have social media, uh any personal social media, and why why is that?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: To be honest, it's just something that's never really I've never really been interested in.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's not very um, there's no real reason.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe when I was you know a lot younger, maybe 10 years ago when Facebook was coming out, maybe I was then, but over sort of the last seven or eight years, yeah, it's not really something that's appealed to me in terms of putting photos of my life on social media.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: There's nothing wrong with it.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um but yeah, it's just it's just not something for me.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: But I could see the the benefit in terms of a business sense.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that is the way that a lot of social media is going anyway.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it is a fantastic opportunity, it's free, and it's only going to social media is only going to get bigger and more available.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I thought I would get on there early in a business sense.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, business sense, definitely, and personal sense.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's refreshing to kind of uh, you know, not some people kind of um for some people that is real life, if you know what I mean.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like uh yeah, yeah, it can be uh a blurred, blurred kind of um blurred areas, if you like.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: So something I have tried to report.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_03: And um I think aspirations for the future, what what are your kind of goals?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: Are you a man of mantras or a man of how do you kind of uh plan, yeah, plan your future?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: The future at the moment is just to keep on um developing one as a mortgage broker, um, you know, to really try and become you know the best.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um and in terms of you know generating as a as a business um as myself, you know, keep on growing on social media, um, keep on being consistent with it, keep on being consistent, um, you know, trying to get my name out there, whether that's podcasting, whether it's social media, whether it's any other form of networking.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, just keep on keep on growing.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: And in a few years, you know, we'll never know what I may want to do and how I may want to grow things.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, it's just as long as it's moving in the right direction at the moment, then you know we can't complain.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and being self-employed, I know that you touched on your reason for being it was for flexibility and such like that.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_03: Do you find flexibility on your role, or do you find that you're working all hours of the day because it's all down to you?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: How do you balance life and work?
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: So it's something which I've recently got a lot better at due to having a little one.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I've had to put sort of things in place with myself.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: So on a weekend, you know, I may do a couple of hours on a Sunday um just to get myself right for the Monday.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: But apart from that, weekends family time, um and that's sort of non-negotiable.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: So um it's something which I am working on, but it's definitely when people say, you know, you leave a nine till five to start working 24-7.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: That is something that you know is correct in some regards because you're always thinking, um, you know, what can I do?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: What can I be doing on social media?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: What can I be doing with this client?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: It definitely doesn't end at five o'clock um on a Wednesday night, but that, you know, that's all part and parcel of it.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um but for me personally at the moment, it's about keeping those keeping those weekends free.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, if you know, if you are going to make it work, especially with mortgage broker business and you know, being available to clients, um you've got to make yourself available.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, especially I work with a lot of first-time buyers, and first-time buyers come with a lot of questions, and you know, that might be a little panic on a on a Wednesday night at half seven, um, you know, when they've been speaking to the parents, and you know, they think, oh my god, what's happening with this?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, so I like to make me myself available um for that reason for my home buyers.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_03: Very kind.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: So you put the you do put the client at the center of what you do.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, absolutely.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, even on a weekend, you know, I will, you know, I always make sure I'm I'm responding to client messages and making sure that they feel like I'm available when when they need me.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_02: Fantastic.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, in terms of you know, the major part of the workload, I try due to having a little one now, try to keep that.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: How old is your little one?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: Six months, two days ago.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_03: Early days.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: Congratulations.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you very much.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_03: Early days indeed.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_03: Very tired.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of sleepless nights, yeah, yeah, I bet.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, we've been quite lucky, but yeah, so it's it's it's been quite um it's quite a lot joking, uh both, but I see it's all it's all worth it.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_03: But you you'd never you'd never considered going back to an employed role.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: No, to be honest.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um maybe when things weren't, you know, were weren't particular particularly consistent.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um it may have been a thought.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but in the ideal world, you know, I do like you know being self-employed, being able to be here at a dinner time, um and also, you know, just taking ownership of your own career and your own income.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I do things sort of my way.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um and yeah, it allows me to help the clients that, you know, I want to help and who want help from me.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um I'm I'm I'm with you there.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: What message would you say?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure there are those times where I I, you know, like you said, things aren't consistent or things aren't going your way in terms of lenders or something like that, or you can't get someone across the line.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: How do you find the motivation to carry on and pick yourself up and keep going?
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_03: Because there is only it's you know, it's only you that will get you there.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so you know, as a mortgage broker, you know, there's there's always going to be, you know, with most clients, there will always be a solution for them, whether it's today or whether it's in let's say they've got bad credit or whether it's in two years' time.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there will always be a solution for them somewhere down the line.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um so you know, if you are doing the job correctly, you shouldn't be getting that many declines in terms of applications.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: However, things do happen, circumstances do change, valuations come back, and a property is being downvalued, and yeah, these things do happen.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, part of being a mortgage broker is the fact that you do work closely with people and you do get that job satisfaction when they do buy that home.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, we always say people don't really want a mortgage, what they want is a home.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um so you know, there's always going to be clients achieving their goals.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um and yeah, there's always there's always positives, you know, that follow not too um long after any sort of negative moments, maybe when there is a down valuation.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_03: Keeping on going.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_03: And I think I'd like to round things up in in a sense where you know, we know your reasons for getting up in the morning, we know how you kind of manage your time in terms of your growth, just carrying on, but do you I don't know, do you do you create five-year plans or do you just do do you do what's what's kind of your strategy for is it one thing at a time or is it end goals?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: So there is always sort of a vision for the future, yeah.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: That is always there, but I'm not really one for putting a time period on it because let's see if you put a two-year time period on achieving the goal, there's so many things can happen, there's so many variables, um, whether it's professionally or whether it's in your personal life, um and that pressure is not always, you know, it's not always helpful to see, right?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: I need to achieve that in two years.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, so I do set goals definitely, um, in terms of growth, I'd say both um as a broker and also as a broker on social media.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, in terms of a time period, not so much.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, as long as things are moving in the right direction, you know, not every day, but you know, on a six-month by six-month basis, then you know, that's good enough for me.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, happy days.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's well explained.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_03: And um finally, I like to ask everybody that comes on the podcast, do you have like a tune of the week or a song that you can't get out of your head?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: So at the moment, um I've been going a bit, I've been having a bit of a throwback.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: Of course.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: I've been listening to a lot of Weezer recently, um, particularly Island in the Sun.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just randomly.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that's been on repeat recently.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, yeah.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: All right, Island in the Sun.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm gonna run the track after this podcast.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_03: I don't actually know it off the top of my head.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_02: I know you'll know, yeah, you'll recognise it when it starts again.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_03: Island in the sun.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe that hopefully coming toward warmer weather, I wouldn't mind being on Island.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: Hopefully, yeah, well, Dan, thank thanks so much for coming on.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_03: Really appreciate you taking the time to speak to me.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_03: And um, yeah, all all the best for the future, and uh thanks a lot.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much for having me on.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: Enjoyed us.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: All right, take care.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_03: Cheers.